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fussy when nursing

so my four month old son just started losing his mind when trying to nurse. He takes a bottle just fine and gets 3 of them a day at daycare. He has had little to no problem switching between the bottle and the breast until now. It has only been going on for three days now. Can anybody help?

Re: fussy when nursing

There is something called the "four month fussies." Basically, baby starts nursing "weird" , it lasts a few weeks and then stops. And it usually happens around 4 months.

However, since baby is partially bottle fed and we know bottles can lead to breastfeeding issues as well, that is certainly something to consider.

Bottle "preference" aka breast refusal usually does happen gradually-many babies are 'fine" switching back and forth and then, suddenly, not fine, and you have a real problem on your hands. So, I would suggest-

Offer to nurse as much as you can. Encourage comfort nursing. Make sure baby keeps associating you and the breast as THE place for comfort, whenever you two are together, day and night.
Limit or drop pacifier use, at least when you are with baby and can nurse.
If baby is sleeping long (over 5 hours) stretches at night, think about ways to gently encourage nursing overnight.
Bottles only at daycare, (not when you can nurse) and make sure baby is being bottle fed in a breastfeeding supportive way. this document has many good ideas for making that happen and prevent breast refusal: http://www.llli.org/docs/00000000000...astfedbaby.pdf